Newcastle fight off backlash as Ashley pays £10m of his OWN cash to re-brand stadium

Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias has revealed a hugely controversial decision to sell the naming rights to St James' Park could generate up to £10million a year.

The Magpies announced their plans on Wednesday, and that in the meantime, the stadium will be knows at the Sports Direct Arena.

That has sparked a predictably furious response from supporters, who were angered when potential sponsors were initially offered the chance to link their name to the stadium, as owner Mike Ashley did by calling it SportsDirect.com@St James' Park, a title which was seldom used, two years ago.

Theatre of dreams: St James' Park will be controversially renamed

The latest move comes after the club
took advice from branding experts, and Llambias is convinced it has to
happen if Newcastle are to maintain pace with the Premier League's big
boys.

He told BBC Radio Newcastle: 'I would
hope it would generate between £8million and 10million a year. That
would give us another player.

'The club needs to be self-sufficient, and this will help us be self-sufficient.

'Yes, we do need to go that one step further to compete. Yes, we do.

'We have had an exceptional year, and long may it continue, but the fans want us to buy more players.

'We need to bring in a striker in
January, we will need replacements in the summer and we need to give
ourselves as much as possible.

Rebranding: Newcastle will now play at the SportsDirect Arena

'There is no guarantee we will find a
sponsor between now and then, but we have to give ourselves the
opportunity and this is one.

'We have to keep going at it. We
can't just say "Oh, it hasn't worked out, let's go back to what we
were". We have to give ourselves the maximum opportunity to sell it.'

The news comes with the Magpies
riding high in third place in the league table and just as peace between
the Ashley regime and the supporters appeared to be breaking out with
manager Alan Pardew and his players having restored some of their
battered pride.

Taking a risk: Chairman Mike Ashley

Llambias admitted they were risking
taking the gloss off a start to the season which has seen a further
4,000 season tickets sold in a cut-price offer in recent weeks, but
insisted there was no alternative.

He said: 'I totally respect the
tradition and history of the club. That is always going to be there, but
we need to move with the times and this is progression.

'We need to move on. We are not disrespecting our fans at all. Far from it.

'We are trying to make it affordable and put players on the pitch.

'We have exhausted all our other
revenue streams, retail is not good - that produces next to nothing,
quite honestly - so we need to bring in more, quite honestly.

'We have been out there a long time
looking. We lose Northern Rock as a sponsor this year, so it gives me a
very small window to get a new shirt sponsor and hopefully a stadium
sponsor at the same time.'

Llambias accepted that many would
still always refer to the stadium as St James' Park whatever it is
officially called, but reiterated that the move was vital.

He said: 'We understand that side of
it, but it is the sponsor's responsibility, as well as ours, to move
forward. Time will dissolve that.

'The history will always be there, we
just become part of the history or they become part of the history. We
just need to make sure we give ourselves the opportunity.

'You know Chelsea has come out to
basically say they are going to re-name their present stadium. Now, they
have a long history as well, but they have an owner who actually has
more money than God.

'We can't compare ourselves to
Abramovich, we have not got that sort of money, so if we want to compete
with the big boys, we have to bring more money in.'

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1892 - St James' Park is first used by Newcastle United.1905 - Development work is completed, with the capacity doubled to 60,000.1971 - After years of the club's plans being thwarted by the council, agreement is finally reached for a new redevelopment of the stadium.1972 - Work starts on a new Leazes Terrace stand, almost 50 years since the club had first applied for planning permission on that side of the stadium. A year later the stand is opened.1978 - The Leazes End is demolished, but relegation and financial difficulties means a new stand is not built.1986 - The West Stand is demolished following safety inspections in the aftermath of the 1985 Bradford City fire disaster.1987 - The replacement for the West Stand, the Milburn Stand - named in honour of club legend Jackie Milburn - is opened.1993 - The Sir John Hall Stand, built as a replacement for the Leazes End and named after the club's new chairman, is opened in time for Newcastle's debut season in the Premier League.1995 - The club submits plans to relocate to Leazes Park, but the proposal faces strong opposition and Newcastle decide to expand St James' Park instead.1998 - Permission is obtained for redevelopment work to begin under new chairman Freddy Shepherd, who had succeeded Hall in 1997.2000 - Construction work is completed, with the capacity of the ground taken to over 52,000.2003 - Newcastle sign a deal with American-based hotel and gaming company MGM Mirage with a view to the construction of a complex - including a casino - on land by the stadium. The plans fall through.2004 - Shearer's, a bar named after the Magpies' record goalscorer Alan Shearer, is opened at the stadium.2007 - Plans are announced for a £300million development of the stadium that will take its capacity to 60,000. These are later put on hold when Mike Ashley takes over the club.2009 - Newcastle announce plans to sell the naming rights for St James' Park and then state that they intend for the ground to be known as the sportsdirect.com@St James' Park Stadium for the immediate future, taking in the name of Ashley's retail company Sports Direct.2011 - The club announce that the stadium is to be renamed the Sports Direct Arena until a permanent sponsor can be found.